Save Hotel Baker |
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This blog is regarding the plight of the spectacular and historic Hotel Baker in Saint Charles, IL that is in serious trouble because the owners went bankrupt.  St. Charles Public Library - Hotel Baker History E-mail me **!! Sealed Auction Information site - bids due July 22nd 2003 !!** City of St. Charles website City of Geneva website Hotel Baker iPix Tours AIA Chicago 1998 design awards page AIA Chicago 2000 design awards page *PING* Archives 
Other weBlogs by Daniel Stafford: The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal *Spell Book* Affirmation Station Remembering Mom Save Hotel Baker Uncle Harold's Farm |
Friday, January 03, 2003
Melody, I made it to the Kane country recorder's office and circuit clerk's office. I have copies of the final 15 pages of the actual court bankruptcy case. It looks like Lasalle was represented by the following pair of attourneys: Stewart T. Kusper, Esq. Dennis K Blackhurst Of Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman 525 West Monroe Street, Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60606 (312)-902-5200 Firm I.D. No. 80428 It looks like Mr. Kusper might be a likely first point of contact, as I did not see anything but the corporate name for LaSalle Bank National Association. The case number is: 02-CH K 043 It basically concludes the objection filed by Hotel Baker Group to the October Sherriff's sale as of december 06, 2002. The documentation I have also includes the full address and legal description of the property and the actual ammounts of sale and remaining deficiency of the defaulted loan, which were $3million & $675,497.56, respectively. That is as far as I'm going to get today. I usually go to bed between 6:30-8am, it's 11:30, and I have to get up at 2:45 today because I have to go in early tonight. I'll write further on Monday. Dan From a PDF document by Robert J. Labate date 12/22/2000 on the google.com search results for help creating a not for profit corporation: "If you don't have a lot of money to spend on hiring an accountant or lawyer, there are several places you can call for assistance. One good source is the Small Business Opportunity Clinic (SBOC) of the Northwestern University School of Law (312/503-8576), located at 357 East Chicago avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. The SBOC director, Thomas H. Morsch, supervises Northwestern Law School students who perform the majority of the legal services. A list of services provided by the SBOC is available at it's website (NWLS SBOC) or you can send them an e-mail at small-business@nwu.edu. For approximately $200.00, plus filing fees, the SBOC will prepare and file your non-profit incorporation documents. For an additional $200.00, plus filing fees (which can be as much as $500.00), the SBOC will prepare and file your 501(c)(3) application for tax-exempt status. And if you simply want a consultation, the SBOC will be pleased to arrange it. By any measure, this is a terrific deal." This does sound very reasonable to me, and there are a lot more resources out there. I'll have to let Melody know later today. Thursday, January 02, 2003
From the St. Charles Community Concerns newslink off the city of St. Charles website: "9/26/02 * The Hotel Baker has been posted on the Sheriff’s Sale list for October 25. The sale will be held at the old courthouse in Geneva, 100 S. 3rd, Rm. 110, at 9 a.m. sharp. Anyone wishing to bid may register that morning beginning at 8:45 a.m. and should bring 10% of the judgment in certified funds. Details on the judgment and building may be found in the court file located at the Kane County Circuit Clerk’s Office on Randall Road (across from the fairgrounds entrance)." I may try to drive there in the morning after work and see what I can find out. I found the LaSalle Bank site map, but I am unable to determine which group to contact regarding properties held by the bank so far. The site map includes their contact page, any suggestions? Dan Melody, That is after the last time I checked as I started prepping for the holidays on the 19th. The national historic site registration is huge. That was a question I was pondering in the blog the first week, as well. Both are absolutely wonderful news. Melody Felton wrote: I just happened to check out the city of St. Charles web page and on 12-19-02 they posted that the lawsuit against the former owner has been dismissed and that LaSalle Bank can go ahead and try to sell. In 1973 the Lutheran Welfare Services of Illinois was the owner of the Hotel Baker and the registered the hotel as a national historic site. This is important because it opens the door for grant possibilities thru the federal grant program national endowment for the humanities. Also do you know who we could contact to view the premises? Along with the financial hurdles we would have to overcome, a significant problem we have is getting folks downtown St. Charles. To coincide with that we need to be able to offer amenities that other upscale hotels offer. I was thinking of spa services and trolley services to the Elgin and Aurora Casino's and theaters. Also we have seen the impact of the business customers in this area if we could get other companies to house their out of town guests and meetings at the hotel. Melody Felton Melody, I'm not certain I follow the significance of the Luther Welfare Services registry filing. If you get a moment, could you expand on your thinking there? Thanks, and have a wonderful evening. Dan Melody, From what I understand of it so far, Lasalle Bank was the mortgateur to the owners that went bankrupt. After foreclosure, they held two separate auctions, one for the hotel's contents, one for the hotel and land. The auction for the building and land was held first. It appears that the two separate auction turned off bidders, the LaSalle Bank won the biding themselves at US $3 million. No word that I know of as yet on the second auction for contents. The bank had been owed $3.5 million. This is per an article from the Daily Herald archives and referenced in the first week's archive of the weBlog. I do not know if Lasalle Bank has the hotel up for sale at this point or what they are looking for as a price if so. Guessing from the way they held two auctions, and the amount they'd been owed, I would bet at least $4-5M. That is as pinned down as I have it. Also, the bank is apparently suing the mother of one of the former owners who co-signed the note prior to the bankruptcy, also per the Daily Herald. I do not believe that litigation has any bearing on current ownership of the property as the foreclosure was already completed. I would say to find out more, we would have to inquire from Lasalle Bank. I am not sure who would be the point of contact. On another note, I just filled my wife in on the outline of the weBlog I started and the gist of your and my correspondence to date. If I am to put in any serious amount of time outside of my working hours, it will require her aquiescence. She is at this point of an open mind, as she is the one who introduced me to the Baker in the first place. I am sure you understand. Time for me to get ready for work. My hours are 8pm-4:30am down in the Loop. I usually would work on this for an hour or so after getting home in the morning and an hour or two somewhere in the evening before leaving for work, just so you know. I like your suggestion. It may interest you to note that I have roughly sixteen years experience with residential, apartment, and hospital maintenance, as well as residential remodeling, prior to entering telecom. I was part owner in a remodeling business for one year, the rest of that time, I was one of the maintenance men. So your idea about some of the rooms becoming upscale apartments resonates well with me. So far, I think on my end, I need to find out whatever I can about the five possible uses of the property. On either of our parts, whomever can find out more details about potential terms for aquiring the Baker. I know the location is Kane county, and I have some of the pertinent Kane County government offices linked in the weBlog archives. I think I will try to start there tomorrow during the late afternoon on this piece. I may also put in a call to Lasalle Bank just to see if I can get a preliminary name to contact. Dan Dan, Sure you have my permission to post anything I write on line. Also just a note. In order to keep the hotel solvent. what if we turned a portion of the rooms into apartments, This would bring in steady income and keep the restaurant and bar open and target this to single upscale professionals? We could keep a certain number of rooms for the hotel as it seems plainly obvious to me that we cannot make it as a hotel alone. Also I did obtain a copy of the national registry that the Lutheran Welfare services of Illinois filed. just an idea. Melody Felton In doing some light research I have found several grants that could possibly help us out. Who owns the hotel today? How much are they selling it for? These grants are only available to not for profit entities. Melody Felton -----Original Message----- From: Dan Stafford [mailto:aqmstaffo@mailbag.com] Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 1:21 PM To: Melody Felton Subject: Re: Hotel Baker That definitely makes sense. I'd been doing some reading and listening to tapes to train for business operations over the past year, every one of them had stated that a mission statement was a very critical piece of any start up. I was listening because I don't want to remain an employee of someone else forever. As I'd envisioned it, the primary purpose of a non-profit would be to preserve the Hotel Baker intact and keep it in some form of operation. The problem is, beyond that goal I'm not sure what is truly possible with it. Appearances looking in from the outside would be that it was somehow difficult to operate as a standard hotel financially, else why the owner's bankruptcy? There are four functions I think might work, and possibly various combinations of these functions. They are: 1. The obvious, operate it as a hotel. 2. Operate it as a school for upscale hostelry workers. 3. Operate it as a museum of the history of hotels in the United States. 4. Operate it as a highly intimate and exclusive venue for performance arts. They are not necessarily in order of priority because I do not know enough to properly prioritize these functions at this point. I would think having at least the moral support of the permanent residents of St. Charles would be an excellent idea and it feels right to me. Now, as to the goals above, I think it's time to begin researching the four potential functions and finding out what currently exists in the U.S. along these lines and what it takes to make them work. I'm not sure I can write an effective mission statement without knowing which of the above sound possible and which truly are. Another question, do I need to include these four functions in a mission statement? Or would their more proper place be in a non-profit business charter? Quoted from above: "As I'd envisioned it, the primary purpose of a non-profit would be to preserve the Hotel Baker intact and keep it in some form of operation." That really is the essence of any mission statement we'd write. The question is, would we be able to garner support for the organization without some further detail built in? Melody, Thank you so much. It's good to know I'm not the only person who thinks this is important. May I have permission to post your note below on the weBlog? I could post it as either from you of from "An Interested Party". And meanwhile, I think I want to find out more about those four items on my list. Thoughts? Dan From today, 01/02/03: I currently work for a not for profit organization (Easter Seals) and would be happy to serve on a board or do any other projects needed. First and foremost it would seem that we need to get the long time citizens of St. Charles information about what we want and what we need to do to accomplish our mission. Also what exactly is our mission? What do we want the Hotel Baker to be? Also we need to devise a business plan that tells us how to reach our mission. Let me know if this makes sense to you. Melody Felton From: Dan Stafford [mailto:aqmstaffo@mailbag.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 12:27 PM To: Melody Felton Subject: Re: Hotel Baker Dear Melody, Thank you so much for writing. For one thing, I'm the only person involved so far, and my skills are of a technical nature. I've been researching how to form a non-profit organization, and it appears you need three people minimum to serve as a board of directors. I will need people that could serve on the board, or know how to fund raise, or know business administration functions for such a thing, or could give legal advice, or simply put me in touch with other interested parties with skills that could be of use. Myself, I am a senior technician with a major long distance carrier, and I have an extensive background in residential remodeling and maintenance prior to the telecomm position. I feel like I'm probably in over my head, but that this is worth doing. I do not want to mislead anyone, I'm a complete novice in things like this. That said, anything you could think of along the above lines, any suggestions you may have, any interesting notes or history about the hotel as it was, please feel free to volunteer. Also, anything you'd like me to post to the weBlog I would be happy to do so, with or without your name on it, or a pen name should you prefer. Your call. Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! Dan Stafford From 12/24/2002: Melody Felton wrote: I am not sure how much help I could be to the cause but I am more than willing to help. I had my wedding reception at the Hotel Baker On October 26, 1996. I was the last reception they did before closing for renovations. Please let me know any way that I can assist you in your quest. Monday, December 30, 2002
The holidays will soon be coming to a close, and as my schedule winds down this week, I will be returning to this activity full force. Hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season with great things to come in '03. Dan |
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